Project FRESH Home

UNIVERSITY  OF  NEW  HAMPSHIRE

Office of Vice President for Finance and Administration
207 Thompson Hall
105 Main Street
Durham, New Hampshire 03824-3547

TO:                 Deans, Directors, Department Heads
                        Members of Finance and Administration Council

FROM:           Candace R. Corvey
                        VP for Finance and Administration 

RE:                 Project FRESH Training 

DATE:            August 20, 2001

         As you are probably aware, Project FRESH is the University System initiative that is responsible for the installation of new finance and human resource application software purchased from SCT (Banner).  It replaces our current finance (CUFS) and human resources (HUM) systems.  FRESH is also responsible for the development over time of a reporting environment to support management reporting of finance and human resource data. FRESH is an intense effort involving more than 100 USNH employees who are dedicating up to three years to configure and install the Banner system and related hardware and software.  Most of these employees continue to be responsible for ongoing institutional operations at the same time they are being asked to bring up the new system. The ‘go-live’ dates are January 1, 2002 for Finance and July 1, 2002 for Human Resources. 

        A critical step in the transition to the new system is to train users of this new software.  This training experience will require a significant time commitment on the part of Business Service Center staff and staff in offices that interact with the finance and human resource system, such as human resources, purchasing, controller’s office, and sponsored research. We have developed a comprehensive and essential training program, and I ask that you strongly encourage and actively support the relevant staff in your area to fully participate.  I regret that the time commitment required will place genuine strain on business service levels.  We will do all we can to mitigate those impacts, but we will also rely on your patience and understanding.  

        Most of the training is packaged into a three-month period before each go-live date. The first round of training -- for the finance application -- will occur between mid-September and mid-December 2001. Training for the human resources application will occur between mid-March and mid-June 2002.  We are phasing in the management reporting training so that a small group of key individuals are trained before finance go-live with the balance to be trained in the spring of 2002.

        The types of training that will be offered in the fall are as follows:

        Detailed information on the training program and the registration process will be shared with the BSC directors by the end of this month.  It is intended that each training experience will build on the previous offering. There will be multiple sections of each session so BSC directors and other department heads can schedule attendance of their staff to minimize the impact of the training on daily campus operations. Some disruption in daily University administrative functions is unavoidable given the significant commitment to training we are requiring of all users. In addition, although there are some exciting improvements that will come over time with the new system, the transition period can be difficult for some people as they work to learn new technologies and adjust to the new way of doing things. Please be assured that BSC directors, the FRESH leadership, and I will do all we can to ease the burden and maintain essential administrative operations during this period.

         Thank you for supporting this important endeavor.  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

cc:        President’s Staff
             Bob Cape
             Ken Cody